Youth Opportunities Fund

Approval Date: March 1, 2018

Grassroots Innovation - SCALE

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $396,700 grant over 48 months to offer a year-round Youth Development Program focused on mentorship, basketball, and educational programming for Black youth in Peel. Youth participants will have access to caring staff and feel a sense of belonging in the community where they can access support, friendship and share experiences with peers. Youth staff will strengthen their leadership skills and capacity to be role models and allies to young people.

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $320,900 grant over 48 months to deliver consent workshops and education for racialized and LGBTTQ+ youth, as well as youth with special needs, in Durham, York, Peel and Toronto. Youth will be able to access education, training and resources focused on consent.

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $300,000 grant over 36 months to deliver the Right to Dance intensive program, community events and to create an Affirming Dance Education Toolkit while providing inclusive, affirming and empowering spaces for racialized LGBTTIQQ2S youth in Toronto. The group wants to develop and share models of creative movement that encourage healing and a deeper sense of self that can have ripple effects for the broader community.

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $300,000 grant over 36 months to deliver weekly programming for newcomer Karen youth in Ottawa, and host an annual conference for Karen youth across the province. Youth will be able to access regular programming to develop their social identities, build healthy relationships and gain interpersonal skills.

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $400,000 grant over 48 months to expand arts-based programming for Indigenous youth, and provide a safe space for Indigenous youth to create together, and share their stories of self-healing through creative expression. The program will empower Indigenous youth in Toronto to focus on their strengths and resiliencies through knowledge=sharing and connecting with community and culture.

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $400,000 grant over 48 months to deliver mentorship programs for racialized young men in Peel Region to build confident leaders equipped to engage in their communities with a solid understanding of the valuable contributions they can make. Youth will strengthen their sense of belonging to their community as they engage in interactive learning opportunities and workshops and learn about services and resources.

Delivering a project that builds on the success of a proven model or program with a $392,200 grant over 48 months to expand its culturally specific Library to three new communities in Scarborough, teaching Black youth knowledge about their identity and culture in safe spaces that create opportunities for them to interact with each other and adults in positive ways in Scarborough. The program will provide youth with an opportunity to learn about their heritage, and develop the confidence to succeed in society.

Grassroots Innovation - TEST

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to deliver culturally-anchored, land-based activities for Indigenous youth in Ottawa. Youth will gain traditional knowledge from Elders, build meaningful relationships with their peers, and access traditional practices for the thirteen moons in the lunar calendar, such as harvesting medicines, birch bark and maple sap.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $182,900 grant over 36 months to create visual art, short films, and screening workshops facilitated by Indigenous artists for Indigenous youth. The initiative will offer a safe space for youth in Thunder Bay and three remote communities in Northwestern Ontario to create, socialize and engage with others, while building confidence and self-esteem. It will give youth access to tools and media outlet to create awareness of the issues they face.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months, this group will increase the visibility in Ontario media of stories and content created and produced by Black youth across the province. Using the Black Youth Action Media website, the group will catalogue, track and store Ontario Black media content, produce original material in collaboration with Black youth, and host an annual festival to bring together Black Youth creatives from across Ontario to learn, network, and celebrate.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $68,000 grant over 12 months to deliver three exhibits and community dialogues, as well as a hands-on workshop for Black youth and emerging young artists in Toronto. Curated by emerging Black artists, the initiative will create a safe space for Black art to be represented and explored, instill community pride and build a healthy community footprint with lasting impact.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $84,000 grant over 36 months to provide undergraduate student members and Black youth in the community of Hamilton with the necessary resources and support needed to become competitive medical school applicants. The group aims to support marginalized students that aspire to be physicians and thus promote inclusivity and increase diversity in Ontario medical schools.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $200,000 grant over 36 months to deliver tutoring, life skills and networking initiatives that promote STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math) to Black youth ages 13 to 19 in Durham region. The goal is to facilitate programs and provide opportunities that will reduce systemic barriers, improve STEM literacy and life skills for Black youth in order to improve their access to medicine and allied health professions.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $140,000 grant over 24 months to deliver a 10-month themed program to provide a safe and supportive learning environment to enhance and equip Black LGBTTQ+ youth in Toronto with interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to thrive. Youth will access training and experiential learning opportunities to promote healthy relationships and develop positive self identities through culturally-anchored programming.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $205,700 grant over 36 months to deliver monthly cycles of arts programming including workshops, arts shows and panel discussions and develop online resources for Black, racialized and LGBTQIA+ youth in Toronto. The project will create a safe space for participants to think critically about their role in communities, build their knowledge and translate their lived experiences through their art.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months, the group will create a formalized support system and a provincially-coordinated student body for Indigenous young people attending post-secondary institutions across Ontario. Indigenous student youth will be involved in leadership and decision-making roles to achieve greater retention and graduation rates for Indigenous students seeking post-secondary education.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $207,800 grant over 36 months to hold workshops, design curricula and campaigns for racialized youth living with disabilities in Hamilton. Youth will gain access to resources and knowledge, centred at the intersections of race, gender and disability, allowing them to advocate for themselves in interpersonal and institutional settings.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months, this group will deliver doula training and access to safe cultural supports for vulnerable Indigenous young women and their families in Ottawa and area. The initiative will provide culturally-relevant support and access to birth coach services and resources for young Indigenous women and their families.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to deliver workshops and intensive weekend retreats for Indigenous youth in Thunder Bay. Youth will be able to build relationships with their peers, connect with their culture and gain knowledge and access to relevant local resources.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $209,900 grant over 36 months to develop and implement an Indigenous mobile app for Indigenous youth in Toronto and Kingston. Youth will be able to own, control, and promote technology created by Indigenous youth, creating and enhancing decolonizing tools.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $199,700 grant over 36 months to deliver land-based activities for Indigenous youth in Timmins. Youth will develop leadership skills through participating in topic-based workshops and connect to their culture through land-based activities.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a grant of $210,000 over 36 months for Tibetan youth in Parkdale to use the power of arts-based as a tool for developing healthy and strong relationships through sharing their struggles living as exiles. Through theatre arts and film-making opportunities, Tibetan youth will have an opportunity for a transformative experience to explore their identity, their stories of living in exile and the complexities of being in diaspora.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $ 210,000 grant over 36 months, this group will build an inclusive and engaged community for LGBTTQ+ youth. This project will facilitate regular visits with local agencies and organizations to conduct workshops and educate community members on how to better support LGBTTQ+ youth within the Grey-Bruce region. A drop-in space will be opened as both an office and a safe space where LGBTTQ+ youth can come for resources, events, peer networking and support.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $131,700 grant over 24 months to deliver workshops and activities designed by and for Métis youth across Ontario. Youth will learn about resources and supports available through the Métis Nation of Ontario, connect with other Métis young people, and participate in the annual leadership conference.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to create a youth council for Indigenous youth in Moose Factory. Youth council members will develop their leadership skills as they plan and organize regular recreational and land-based activities.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to conduct community-based research, develop a wraparound framework of supports, and design and evaluate pilot supports for young adults involved in the federal justice system in the Greater Toronto Area. The group aims to increase knowledge of existing services, identify needs and gaps, and improve the quality, availability and coordination of supports to improve outcomes for youth re-entering communities.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $205,300 grant over 36 months to conduct a community-based research project, co-led by vulnerable Black youth living in the Greater Toronto Area, to learn about the barriers they face and opportunities to grow their engagement with local service organizations. Their co-leadership in producing a practice/service delivery framework will improve the capacity of those in the the youth service sector to effectively respond to and serve the needs of vulnerable Black youth.

Deliver a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to deliver workshops in digital literacy, connect young Black women in Toronto’s Black Creek and Glenfield-Jane Heights area to mentors and help them grow their networks to encourage their participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The initiative will provide an inclusive learning environment where young Black women can improve their digital literacy through coding, and increase their confidence through group mentorship.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to provide a safe space for Black and racialized youth ages 15 to 25 in Toronto’s Weston Road-Mt. Dennis area to participate in music, access instruments and gain mentorship. Black youth will have daily access to a safe space that will help build bonds and foster a collaborative atmosphere to build healthy relationships using music as a catalyst.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a grant of $140,000 over 24 months to connect Black youth to positive role models whom they share the same ethnic background with in the Etobicoke community, as well as organize a summer camp for Black Youth living in the Eastmall/Westmall/Capri community to celebrate their identity. Youth will have access to mentors and a camp experience, which in most cases, they wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. The program will also promote equal participation of young women in leadership activities in the camp as well as in the mentorship program.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $ 70,000 grant to engage a group of approximately twenty young Muslim women in eight workshops over 12 months as a way to address issues of racism, misogyny and Islamophobia in London. The project will create a safer space for young Muslim women to build their capacities and to organize within their communities in the pursuit of social justice.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to conduct community consultations and events with youth councils, elders, leaders and community members and create a mobile app that will act as a digital care navigator for Indigenous youth in Tkaronto (Toronto). Youth will develop peer networks, strengthen knowledge of cultural practices, develop leadership and digital literacy skills to design an app that will guide connections between communities in new and innovative ways that are rooted in traditional values.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to engage and support youth ambassadors and community guides in peer-to-peer community relationship building and leadership and to share information with teachers, youth support workers and Indigenous youth leaders in northern Ontario. Youth Ambassadors will gain confidence and tools to engage their peers and communities in important dialogues around hope, hardship and healing, while also engaging youth through peer-to peer support youth-led initiatives. Youth will be empowered to identify and use their own wisdom, strength, and the strengths of their community, to create positive change for themselves and those around them.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $210,000 grant over 36 months to create and test a new governance model for Indigenous and racialized youth in Toronto, Algoma and Thunder Bay. It will give youth access to tools and resources to self-organize to create change in these communities by using a model developed by youth that values their unique gifts and skills.

Delivering a project at the idea or conceptual stage with a $207,700 grant over 36 months offer a summer program focused on aerospace and aviation for racialized youth in Toronto’s Rexdale community. The group will engage youth in interactive learning, build a support system between participants, link youth to mentors in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (stem), expose youth to new pathways and potential careers in STEM, and increase their awareness of the achievements of Black inventors and innovators.

Strategic Collaboration

With a grant of $1,000,000 over 48 months, this collaborative initiative will define and improve the pathways to care for Black youth who need mental health and addiction services in six Ontario cities. The collaborative will increase connections between sectors, redesign existing resource tools, and increase the capacity of agencies to deliver appropriate assistance to Black youth who need mental health and addiction services.

With a grant of $1,248,000 over 60 months, this collaborative will strengthen the social service sector system for urban Indigenous youth. This collaborative wants to make it easier for a young Indigenous person to navigate and benefit from the services available to them, so they can be ready to pursue training and employment in the communities of Brantford, Hamilton, St. Catharine’s, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Fort Erie.

With a grant of $1,197,100 over 60 months, the Black Youth Success Initiative will improve educational outcomes for Black youth in the Peel region. The collaborative wants to develop a three pronged strategy that will focus on prevention, intervention, capacity-building and collaboration to support approximately 500 Black children and youth over five years to achieve, or be on track to achieve, graduation rates on par with the regional average.

With a grant of $999,700 over 60 months, this collaborative initiative will strengthen the relationship between Indigenous youth and the philanthropic and charitable sector to create a network of empowered and celebrated Indigenous youth supported by a community of individuals, organizations and funders that work toward shared desires for a healthy environment, social inclusivity, and strong cultural connections across Ontario.